A review by dasrupa
We Had No Rules by Corinne Manning

5.0

Looking at the stunning painting on the cover of this book, of one perfectly manicured hand passing a joint to another perfectly manicured hand, you might wonder: could the contents possibly live up to something so irrefutably cool? Yes. The answer is yes. This collection burns so very bright. Each story left me wanting more - not at all in the sense of their being unsatisfactory or incomplete, but because each character, each relationship felt so real, so vital, that I wanted to see everything that came before and after, to follow those characters and see the ways they managed to grow, to heal, to become the selves that they yearned for. The title and the many callbacks to it throughout the book could not be a more perfect statement on radical, queer relationships - both the pressure and exhilaration that come from being able to make (and break) your own rules for how to love and be loved suffuse this beautiful book.